Russia's foreign minister said the largest group of Russian citizens will be evacuated from Beirut Wednesday as the conflict in Lebanon entered its second week

Russia's foreign minister said the largest group of Russian citizens will be evacuated from Beirut Wednesday as the conflict in Lebanon entered its second week.
More than 200 people have been killed in Lebanon in seven days of Israeli missile and air strikes, while more than 20 Israelis have been killed in attacks mounted by militant group Hizbollah.
"Today another group of more than 900 people will depart," Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station. "This is the main group evacuated to the north across the Syrian border, which will be later taken by an Emergency Situations Ministry plane from Syria to Russia."
He said Russia was in talks with other countries.
"We are holding talks with a number of Western countries in the same difficult situation that have sent military and civilian planes to evacuate nationals," Lavrov said. "We will certainly take these citizens."
Lavrov added that Russia had experienced no problems evacuating its citizens from the Gaza Strip as the Palestinians showed cooperation and understanding, but there had been some problems with the Israelis, who kept Russians for hours at their checkpoints.
A group of Russians has already left the Palestinian Authority, which has also been subject to Israeli military action, and arrived safely in Moscow. Thirty-six people touched down in Moscow Tuesday morning in an Emergency Situations Ministry plane.
The Russian Embassy in Beirut said earlier it planned to evacuate 1,500 people adding that embassy officials had coordinated routes with Israeli authorities, which had promised to stop military operations in the area during the evacuation.